News and Media Relations

Open Access Agreement with Springer Nature Renewed

The Austrian Science Fund FWF, the Austrian Library Consortium (Kooperation E-Medien Österreich, KEMÖ) and Springer Nature have renewed their existing open access contract for Springer journals. The transformative agreement enables researchers and students in Austria to publish peer-reviewed research articles open access in more than 1,900 Springer journals without additional fees.

Consortium members also gain access to more than 2,000 Springer, Palgrave Macmillan and Adis subscription journals. Running from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021, the three-year agreement comprises 34 Austrian research institutions (universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutes and state libraries) and the FWF Austrian Science Fund.

The Austrian Academic Library Consortium recognized the potential of open access transformation models early on, and successfully concluded one of the first Read & Publish agreements with Springer Nature in 2016. This agreement has contributed to the fact that around 70% of Springer Nature authors in Austria are now publishing open access. The renewal for an additional three-year contract period will further drive the publication of open access articles in Austria, to the benefit of researchers and students, as well as the global scientific community.

In a joint statement, the Library Consortium’s representatives emphasized that “for the consortium, the renewal of the agreement constitutes an important next step towards achieving free access to all scientific publications under transparent conditions and pricing in the future. The participating consortium members have once again excelled at finding collaborative solutions: a new cost-sharing model has been developed, which takes into account the publication output of each institution. In addition to the continuation of the smoothly running open access workflow, the participating institutions will benefit from a growing journal portfolio, to include titles from Palgrave Macmillan, Adis as well as new Springer titles. As a result, the member institutions will have access to even more content.”

Klement Tockner, President of the FWF, underlines: "The agreement is a further step in the right direction as it accelerates the transition to an open and transparent publication system. As a member of cOAlition S, the FWF is committed to continuing to work actively with KEMÖ and publishers to fully implement Open Access to scientific publications.”

Dagmar Laging, Vice President Institutional Sales Europe at Springer Nature commented: “We are particularly pleased that all Austrian institutions that have already participated in our first agreement in 2016 have agreed to this extension. Our successful cooperation with the Austrian Academic Library Consortium over the past three years has certainly helped us to develop the required infrastructure and framework at Springer Nature to also pave the way for further innovative transformative agreements in the future. The increased institutional take up in this renewal also proves that the broad acceptance of open access models among researchers and funders in Austria has increased significantly. For us, this is an important move to progress our position as transformative publisher, advance discovery and promote the dissemination of research in a transparent and sustainable way.”

The Austrian Academic Library Consortium "Kooperation E-Medien Österreich (KEMÖ)" is on behalf of its members responsible for the coordinated acquisition of electronic content and access rights to electronic media, including the coordinated administration of resources. KEMÖ also represents its members abroad, for example on the supra-regional working group “GASCO”, the German Austrian Swiss Consortia Organisation, or on the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) and other relevant interest groups. Furthermore, KEMÖ participates in national and international open access initiatives. The Austrian Library Network and Service GmbH (OBVSG) provides operational support to KEMÖ and accommodates the administration office. About the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is Austria’s central funding organisation for basic research as well as arts-based research. Applying international quality benchmarks, the FWF provides funding for outstanding research projects and excellent researchers who work to generate, broaden and deepen scientific and scholarly knowledge.

Its funding activities focus on top-notch research across all disciplines, the quality of which is guaranteed by international reviews. The FWF’s goals are to further improve Austria’s research and economic performance on the international stage and to increase the country’s attractiveness as a research location. At the same time, the fund seeks to heighten Austria’s research potential, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in line with the principles of research-based education, and to foster dialogue between the research community and the economic, social and cultural spheres..

About Springer Nature

Springer Nature is a leading research, educational and professional publisher, providing quality content to our communities through a range of innovative platforms, products and services. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals and resources reach millions of people – helping researchers, students, teachers and professionals to discover, learn and achieve more. Through our family of brands, we aim to serve and support the research, education and professional communities by putting them at the heart of all we do, delivering the highest possible standards in content and technology, and helping shape the future of publishing for their benefit and for society overall.